The present invention relates to the field of underwater diving equipment, and more properly to a new type of buoyancy compensator jacket.
It is known that underwater divers, hereinafter referred to simply as divers, make use of buoyancy compensator jackets, having one or more air chambers. These can be inflatedxe2x80x94by oral or thanks to compressed gas inflation meansxe2x80x94and deflated in order to provide for buoyancy trim or compensation to the diver.
In greater detail, the aim of said jackets is that of maintaining the buoyancy of the diver to a substantially neutral state as his depth varies. In this way, he is always allowed to move in all directions with the utmost ease. In fact, it has to be considered that as the diver dives deeper, due to the water pressure increase and to the consequent compression of the exposure suit and associated diving equipment as well as of the body cavities, his inherent lifting characteristics decreases, making the ascension movements harder. Such decrease is compensated by progressively inflating the jacket. Conversely, as the diver ascends to the surface his inherent buoyancy increases and air must be gradually released from the jacket in order to maintain the overall buoyancy to a substantially neutral state.
The air chambers, placed in the back portion of the jacket, are pneumatically accessible, for the inflation/deflation operations, via an inflater tube, extending from the jacket and provided with an end valve. Besides, there is at least one further quick-release over pressure valve, directly attached to the back face of the jacket and which can be operated by pulling a rope. The supplementary valves support the operation of the inflater tube valve, namely assuring a quickxe2x80x94and as complete as possiblexe2x80x94air release from the chamber.
In the prior art two back valves are usually arranged, respectively, near the upper and lower edges of the jacket. The upper valve is operated via a rope located over the shoulder of the diver, while the lower one has an operating rope extending downwards in the waist area.
The upper valve accomplishes a most favorable air release when the diver dives towards the surface, i.e. with his feet pointing downwards. On the other hand, the lower valve assures a complete deflation of the jacket when it is the head that points downwards, thus preventing air pockets from forming in the waist area in this quite common situation.
However, the above described arrangement has the drawback that the diver must perform different operations depending on his position. Besides, in order to achieve an as quick deflation as possible, sometimes it would be useful to operate the two valves simultaneously. But such an operation is troublesome, mainly due to the fact that the lower valve rope is not easy to reach, and consequently it is, practically, never carried out.
The object of the present invention is to overcome said drawback, by providing a buoyancy compensator jacket in which the air chamber can be deflated completely in the easiest and quickest way, whichever the position of the diver is.
Such object is achieved with the buoyancy compensator jacket according to the present invention, comprising a couple of quick-release valves, associated to the air chamber provided in the back portion of the jacket, arranged, respectively, near the upper and lower edges of such portion, respective ropes extending from the valves for the operation thereof. A supplementary operation rope extends from the lower valve. Such supplementary rope and the rope of the upper valve are mutually connected at least in correspondence to the free ends, whereby the air chamber can be deflated through both valves by means of a single action.